I’m very close to purchasing a 15 jcw countryman. I used to have a countryman 14 S and also an 07 r56. The thing is the jcw has nearly 150 thousand kms on it. It’s a one owner car with full service history and is in great condition. I’m a little worried about reliability given the mileage and reputation of that engine 😬. Any advice would be appreciated. Any JCW owners out there with high mileage?

 

The ‘15 Countryman should have the N18 engine, and that was one of its last years. I would expect it to be quite reliable on that merit alone. That being said, I have a 2012 Clubman S with the earlier N18, and my car has proven to be quite reliable. I’m sneaking up on 160k miles, and the engine has never had a walnut blast, never had an engine flush, and only seen regular oil changes, all while being stage 2 tuned for over 100k miles. I have had to replace ignition coils and vanos solenoids, but I would consider those to be maintenance items.

If the price was right, I would have no problem with that car.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I’ll post if we decided to buy it.

 

I have a 2012 MCS with the N18 engine and regularly flog it out on the track... 70+k miles on it and no significant issues. I had the auxiliary water pump that cools the turbo die and the thermostat died. That is it. The aux water pump throws a code that only a MINI dealer or someone with MINI software will see. But it shows up by the radiator fan running excessively after the engine is turned off. It is especially noticeable in cold weather with the fan running. Typically the fan may run briefly after the engine is turn off; maybe a minute or so, but not longer if all is OK.

The N18 does well with regular and frequent oil changes, about every 5000 miles. Not sure if you can check that.

Basically, if all else is right with the car... I would say go for it...

 

We bought it. Will pick it up in a week. 🤙

 

Looks great!

 

Nice!

 

Got an update on this. When I test drove the mini it had a random loud click heard from the engine at idle. It is a click or tick that almost sounded like a heat shield expanding every 10 to 15 seconds. Anyway we bought the mini subject to the dealership (Subaru) diagnosis of the random click. They called this morning and said the mini dealership looked at it and it needs its timing chain done. They said it’s close to 3 grand Canadian for the work and they don’t want to pay for it. I really like the car but now I’m thinking about walking away. Any thoughts?

 

$3000 is nuts!! How handy in the garage are you? Changing the timing chain, if that’s really what it is, isn’t a very difficult job. It is time consuming, but relatively straightforward.

Maybe use this new knowledge as a bargaining chip? Tell them to knock $3000 off the price of the car

 

I’m very handy. Have done timing chain etc and also engine swap on my Jeep plus a whole bunch of other mechanical stuff. The Subaru dealership says they don’t want to pay for the work as they already have to replace the windshield on it. Ill try to see if they will
meet me half way. The car is 20000$ Canadian, it has 149000kms on it. Very clean one owner vehicle.

 

Subaru dropped it off at Mini round the corner. They say they cannot replicate the random click. They listened for timing chain rattle and even kept overnight to do a cold start. They say the click I was hearing was maybe the a/c compressor clicking on /off or heat shield Here’s a link to the video I took. Noise in ? is at 7 ,18 and 32 mark.

 

Ya that sound doesn't sound like from the rotating assembly. Something clicking due to heat expansion or relay click or something.

 

I did some searches and found this video:

The engine sounds normal, but if you look at the comments, the 3rd one down, the person talks about a loud tick, like the one on the engine in the car you are looking at, I imagine. Not sure what kind of an issue it is. Doesn’t seem like it is an issue, though.

I found a bunch of YouTube videos about the death rattle on the N14 engine
The beginning of this video gives an explanation of the cause of the timing chain issue:

N14 death rattle:

What you are hearing seems to be a pretty normal N18, timing chain wise. The tick? Not sure. Maybe it is what was noted in the first video comments.

Hope this helps...

 

Thank you for the information. I’ll be making my final decision on this vehicle today.

 

Update on this. Spoke to the Subaru dealer today and they say they are not comfortable selling the vehicle as they believe the engine doesn’t sound right. They will dump the vehicle at wholesale and return my deposit. I’m now looking at 2015 /16 f56 jcw’s. Unless another jcw countryman pops up

 

The Subaru dealer sounds smart and honest, at least what goes through their doors.

Have you looked at the NAM Marketplace listings?

Just curious - The jump from a JCW hatch to a Countryman is the extreme of MINI line. Why no Clubmans as an option?

At any rate - best of luck finding what you are looking for...

 

Thanks again , I’ve had a 14 r60 and a 07 r56. Clubman’s are hard to find up here in Canada.

 

Hope your search goes well...